Page 55 of A Scandalous Love for the Enticing Duke
Then he moved to the Duchess. “My Lady. I know you are quite surprised to find your daughters free from the captivity you put them in. I shall beg you not to fault Louis. She had to make a choice between disobeying your orders and the French doors. You would agree with me that she made a wise decision.”
Williams eyes shot up, and he looked at his wife. “What are you going on about, Nicholas?”
“Oh … I am simply observing that the Duchess seems quite taken aback to find her daughters free and dining, seeing as she had locked them in to hinder them from carrying on with their elopement plans.”
William’s eyes almost popped out of his sockets. Just when he had thought they had reached the peak.
“Victoria, is this true?”
“I … I … only …”
“Wanted the best for them, I suppose?”
“Indeed! Imagine what would happen when the news got out that our daughter eloped with a merchant! Such scandal! I simply could not allow that!”
Williams shook his head at her outburst. “And here, I thought you had learned your lessons. I suppose you do not know yet of the love between Eleanor and Nicholas?”
She was dumfounded, at a loss for words. Williams felt a sudden satisfaction at her apparent shock. Alas, one thing she did not know.
“Nicholas and Eleanor? How?”
“I suppose whoever had eavesdropped on our conversation had not heard that part,” came Isabelle’s clipped reply as she too stood up. “Just when we think you cannot go any lower, you astonish us, yet again. You must know that after Benjamin found you at Bond Street, our plans changed. All the while you thought yourself one step ahead, you were simply behind. I hope that now, you will stop with your exploits.”
“You shall not speak to me that manner, Isabelle. I am still your mother, no matter what.”
“Of course, and Mother knows best; is that not so?”
Victoria had no come back, and Isabelle turned to look at her father. “We are glad things went as planned, but I am sorry you had to find out this way, Father.”
Williams smiled as he palmed his daughter’s face. “I was going to find out, one way or the other. Thanks to your quick thinking and selfless actions, we might have ended up with a bigger disaster otherwise.”
“I only did what I thought was best,” she said returning his smile. Williams knew he had never been more proud of her in his entire life.
“You did great, sweetheart.” A chuckle escaped his lips as she rose on her tiptoes to kiss him.
“I was confident that you would understand.” She pulled away then.
“I could not fail all of you, any longer. I had to do what I know is right.”
She nodded at this, then moved away to go to Benjamin. He saw the young Duke reach out to stroke her cheeks affectionately as she reached him and when he would have watched the heart-warming scene a while longer, he got distracted by his other two daughters.
Before they would say anything, he swept them both into his arms and hugged them. His precious ones. They had never made him feel as though he would have been better off with male children. They had always been everything. His heirs, his princesses.
“Do not apologise for your hearts. They did no wrong. You have my blessings. All of you, to marry whomever your heart wishes for. These are good men, and I have no doubts that they would do right by you.”
They held on tightly to him, and he knew he had made the right decision. Now, just one more thing was left to do. As if on cue, Alan and Regina stepped in, at that moment.
“This certainly looks like a happy place. I hope you do not mind if we join?” The smile could be heard in the female voice, and he recognised it instantly.
As soon as he released his hold on the girls, and they did the same, they all turned to look at the son and mother with big smiles on their faces.
“Alan!” Agnes screamed, then she was running to him. in a flash, she flung herself into his open arms, and he caught her. Their embrace brimmed with the love they felt for each other, and as Alan’s eyes fluttered closed, Williams wondered how anyone would have thought to deny these children of something so clearly profound and beautiful. No wonder his daughter ailed. To live without such love, it was a grave punishment.
The lovers finally pulled apart, and his eyes met Alan’s. The young man’s smile faltered for a bit. “We received a letter, requesting that we came to the Birmingham residence. It had your heirloom,” he announced as he revealed a signet ring which belonged to Williams.
“Yes. I had it delivered,” he replied, keeping his smile on. As soon as Lackley had confirmed Benjamin’s words, Benjamin had suggested that they wrote to the Sheldons. After all, since all was coming to an end, they deserved apologies. Williams had agreed, and since he had not been with his seal, he had asked Lackley to draft a letter. His signet ring had been added to prove his identity, and a messenger had been sent to the inn where Alan had been hiding.
“I suggest we all have our seats. This might take a while.”
